The incumbent leader, Joko Widodo’s eldest son, was named as presidential contender Prabowo Subianto’s running partner for the next election. Due to Jokowi’s enormous popularity, the selection of Gibran Rakabuming Raka, 36, might help Prabowo’s campaign, despite last week’s outcry over a court decision to modify an eligibility rule that would have banned Gibran from running.
Prabowo announced at a news conference following a meeting of his party and its coalition partners that a decision had been made to nominate him as the presidential candidate and Gibran Rakabuming Raka as the vice presidential candidate.
On February 14, the third-largest democracy in the world will hold concurrent presidential and parliamentary elections, with about 205 million of Indonesia’s more than 270 million people eligible to cast a ballot.
The 72-year-old Prabowo has come out on top in most polls this year, including two this week, albeit by a small margin over Ganjar Pranowo of the governing party, a former governor of Central Java, with former governor of Jakarta Anies Baswedan a distant third.
The first day of presidential candidate registration was Thursday, when Ganjar and Anies, 54, registered for the contest.
Jokowi claimed this week that he was not involved in choosing presidential candidates. Still, political insiders claim that the outgoing leader is attempting to maintain his influence and has been clandestinely rallying support for his former rival Prabowo after initially seeming to back Ganjar as the PDI-P party’s nominee.
STRENGTH BASE
When asked earlier on Sunday whether his son would be nominated, President Jokowi responded that he would “leave it to the political parties’ coalition,” adding that a parent’s role is to pray for and bless their children.
According to some observers, collaborating with Gibran might help Prabowo win over some of Jokowi’s support base and increase the odds that the leaving president will leave a lasting legacy by seeing that the important economic initiatives he launched are completed.
The 36-year-old mayor of Surakarta city, Gibran, sparked controversy after a high court decision that altered the eligibility requirements and made it possible for him to run for vice president.
Political insiders claim that Jokowi’s nomination of Gibran is an attempt to maintain his power. He has been clandestinely rallying support for Prabowo, whom he twice defeated to win the presidency in 2014 and 2019.
The ruling Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P), of which Gibran and the President are listed as members, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Wednesday, October 25, the final day for registration, Prabowo stated he intends to submit his declaration of candidacy to the electoral commission.
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